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Monday, April 29, 2013

Carnival food…not exactly how I would describe
how my family eats, but a fun way to jazz up a meal. Plus, I love the
challenge of making really unhealthy foods a wee bit more healthful.

Corn dogs are not at the top of any “healthy foods” list, but I have a
theory that kids like to eat things on a stick. Popsicles, lollipops,
and yes, corn dogs. There is an inherent thrill in eating off of a
stick.

Throwing potential eye hazards aside, I came up with a fun way to
make miniature “corn dogs” for lunch or dinner for your family. Basically
you use a thickened corn bread batter and dip little pieces of sausage or hot dog
in the batter and bake them in a mini-muffin tin. It was fun to make
and even more fun to eat.

A tip if you do try this recipe: pop the corn bread mixture into the
fridge for 10-15 minutes before you intend to dip your sausage in it,
as it helps firm up the mixture and makes it easier to stay on the
“dog.”

Another tip: preheat the oven with the mini-muffin tin in the
oven, so that it is hot when you put the mini-corn dogs in the pan.
This makes them brown nicely on the bottom.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the mini-muffin tin in the oven to warm.

Prepare the batter: In a medium bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour,
sugar, baking powder, salt, onion powder and ground pepper. In a small
bowl mix the milk, eggs and oil. Pour the milk mixture into the
cornmeal mixture and mix until just combined. Pop the bowl in the
fridge for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut each sausage or hot dog into 8-12 slices, or about ½ inch slices. Place a toothpick in each piece.

Remove the mini-muffin tin from the oven and dip each sausage in the batter, using a spoon to coat each piece, if necessary.

Place immediately into the pan. Repeat until the pan is full.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the corn dog bites are slightly browned.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

A long, long time ago when SPH and I still lived in Virginia, our good friends Dan and Lee served a version of this salad at one of our Supper Club dinners. Oh, was it good...

Last night I was driving home from picking R up from piano lessons. I'd already planned a spinach salad for dinner when , into my head popped this recipe. I found it in my old recipe binder and altered our dinner plans a wee bit.

It was so good, the boys loved it (my theory? the maple syrup in the dressing) and since I am excited to share it with you, I did an impromptu photo shoot as I made it for my lunch earlier today.

You can alter this recipe and omit the bacon so it will be vegetarian/vegan, or add a cheese if that floats your boat. You can certainly use other greens, and since the dressing is warm, it would work great with firmer greens like kale or swiss chard, as they will wilt a wee bit.

Don't worry so much about using the exact vegetables in the salad, as you can alter them to your heart's content, but do, do, do try this dressing!

Monday, April 22, 2013

This is a re-post of my 2012 list of our family's best homemade Earth-friendly cleaners. Happy Earth Day!

***********************************************

1. The Ole' Stand-by: Vinegar and Water.
We use roughly half water, half white vinegar for our go-to cleaner
for mirrors, window and other surfaces. Yeah, it doesn't smell great,
but once it is dry the smell is g-o-n-e, gone.

I
use this seemingly all day long. Click on the link for a great way to
remove pesticides, residue and other gunk from your fresh produce.5. Greener Garden Helper: Homemade Earth-Friendly Weed Preventer

It's
spring and weeds are popping up along our patio, driveway and front
walk. This weed killer has been a huge help! Bonus: R and G love
using it which is a huge help.
There you have it; five ways you can celebrate Earth Day, everyday.

Friday, April 19, 2013

G's first game of the season, it was cooooold. Of course, then yesterday it was 86 degrees. Spring in Ohio!

It is the start of spring soccer and with both R and G playing, SPH coaching and yours truly driving to practices, sitting at the soccer field, gathering post-game snacks, cheering, keeping track of cleats, shin guards and other equipment, I have one thought...

How did I become a soccer mom?

For some reason I don't like the term "soccer mom," it being a label and all, and me not liking labels too much.

But what better term to explain my life for the next month and a half as we fit multiple practices and games into each week?

So with soccer season comes busy weeknights and weekends, but at the end of the day, would I really want it any other way?

Make the Risotto:
In
a large sauce pan over medium heat, heat the olive oil and add the
onion. Saute for 3-4 minutes or until the onions
begin to become translucent. Add the garlic and arborio rice and stir well, to
coat the rice well with the olive oil.

Meanwhile, pour the broth into a microwave safe container (a glass pyrex container works well). Heat for 2 minutes on high. Set aside.

Add the white wine. Stir
and in about 1-2 minutes, add one cup of the broth. Stir occasionally
until the broth has been absorbed by the rice, which takes about 3-4
minutes. Keep adding broth in 1/2-1 cup increments until the rice is
cooked (taste it if you are not sure!).

Monday, April 15, 2013

A few months ago I was shopping at our local Market District grocery store when I came upon my favorite dietician, who was passing out samples of Carrot Cake bites...basically, completely healthful and delicious bites of goodness.

R loves this recipe, and I love that he's getting a slew of healthful ingredients each times he enjoys them. Many mornings, these serve as an "appetizer" to his breakfast. They're also a great after-school snack or anytime snack.

Monday, April 1, 2013

After lots of thought, research, discussion and prayer, our family has decided to try a Gluten-Free trial in our home. It's been quite the journey, full of lots of revelations, indecision and tons of reading.

We did not embark on this journey because Gluten-Free is all the rage. Quite the contrary. This is not an experiment based on reading any one book, listening to a celebrity gush about Gluten-Free or because we just casually decided to do it.

But regardless we're...

Going Gluten-Free as a Family.

For 8 Weeks.

No Gluten. Period.

In other words, GF.

As SPH and I made the decision, the biggest question to me was "how are we going to tell the boys?" I mean, they love pizza, pasta, cookies, bread, cake...I could go on.

So over the last few months I've been experimenting (alert readers may have noticed!)...with GF recipes, GF take-out pizza (hello, did you know that Mama Mimi's, Domino's and Donatos all have GF pizzas?) and other ways to eliminate gluten, but maintain healthy whole grains as a part of our diet.

I've perused the GF aisle at Market District, asked for GF recommendations from my friends who have Celiac Disease, and been working on a homemade GF flour mix.

This has not been a hasty decision to try Gluten-Free.

So recently I sat the boys down and explained our reasons for going Gluten-Free and why we thought this was a good thing for our family.

I tried to talk straight about the challenges: no school lunches, no school treats (but told them I would make some if a birthday was that week), no school snacks unless they were Gluten-Free (but promised to stock their teacher's shelves with some Gluten-Free Snacks), and remembering they will have to ask if they aren't sure if they can eat something.

Then I handed them a few things to read. First, a brainstormed list of all of their favorite foods that are naturally Gluten-Free foods (and there are tons more!), along with a list of their favorite Gluten-Free foods at Trader Joe's (you can print your own list here).

Next, two cookbooks from my sweet mother. I told R and G they could flip through the pages and pick any two recipes for this week. We'll be trying Gluten-Free Italian Garlic Breadsticks and Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies.

At the end of the conversation R looked at me and said, "that's fine, I don't really mind not buying lunch at school" (my biggest concern) and G said, "sounds great, why don't we start today!"

Shock. Awe. Thanks-giving.

I am thankful they are supportive of this experiment and I hope their attitudes continue.

In the meantime, I'll be sharing what we learn as we journey down this road.

About Me

It seems like a distant memory, but years ago I relished making involved, gourmet meals. Now my goal is to create healthy meals that appeal both to me and my husband and the palates of my two Sweet Pea boys. Journey with me through my victories and defeats.